Mayan Caves

Belize is an ideal location for the formation of caves. With abundant limestone and a wet climate, caves abound in many places throughout Belize.

Caving is a dangerous sport, and it is adviseable to check with the locals before exploring any caves on your own. Because of the isolation of many caves, they have not been thoroughly explored. There are hundreds of caves, mostly unexplored in the limestone hills between the Maya Mountains and the plain. The role of caves in Maya culture is principally ritual, although they have also been used as places of refuge, storage, clay quarries, and as a source for both ritual and drinking water. Believed to be the entrance to the underworld, the ancient Maya preferred those with difficult access for their ritual descent down to Xibalba, the abode for the dead.

The Popul Vuh, a Quiche Maya document from the Guatemala highlands, makes reference to the Maya's origin in caves. Since many caves in that area are vertical, and completely inaccessible, it is argued that underworld mythology developed in the lowland area where caves are more easily entered. Vuh also mentions the Hero Twins who journeyed the hazardous path to the underworld. Their trials in the "House of Darkness" may reflect actual rites wherein the young elite Maya duplicate the legendary journey.

Often restrictions such as stalagmites, if not natural, were placed at the mouth of the cave or at the opening to an inner chamber within the cave. Stalagmites resembling the sacred ceiba tree have been depicted in the Dresden Codex, one of the four surviving Maya books. Ceiba supports the heavens at the center of the Maya universe and represents the fifth up and-down direction of the Maya conception of space which divided space into four quadrants corresponding to the Cardinal directions. There are nine levels in the Maya underworld, each represented by a deity. In the Long Count Calendar, the lords make up a perpetual cycle each serving as a current lord of the night, influencing daily events. The Jaguar; god of the number seven and lord of the underworld, was most revered. The death god, a human skeleton figure often depicted with saurian characteristics, is also a prominent figure.

The interpretation of caves as an access to the underworld is enforced by evidence of snail shells, which had death symbolism, strewn along paths inside many caves. Rites often include the burning of copal incense in censers to honor ancestors. Offerings of ground cocoa and sacrifices of birds, dogs or children were often made to the gods, especially to Chac, the rain god. Other archaeological material includes stingray spines, an item used to draw blood. Finally, caves were also used to collect "Zuhuy ha" or "remote water." Jars (ollas) were placed as receptacles for water dripping from stalactites and used for a variety of ceremonial purposes. Individual pot shards were often placed in wet crevices which kept the "virgin" water from touching the ground. It is interesting to note that ceramic vessels found in graves at Lamanai usually lacked one fragment suggesting that a single shard was retained for ceremonial purposes. The demands for Zuhuy ha were probably great and the olla jars and fancy polychrome wares were very likely smashed at the semi-annual renewal rites. Caves may have been the receptacle for these broken vessels explaining the large number of pot shards often heaped or strewn in them.

Actun Chapat

The cave site of Actun Chapat (Centipede Cave) is located approximately 19 miles south of the modern town of San Ignacio, in the foothills of the Maya Mountains. Preliminary reconnaissance of the site was conducted by members of the Belize Department of Archaeology in 1982. They identified such architectural features as walls, terraced and raised platforms, as well as human remains, and disturbed ceramic artifacts dating between 300 B.C. and A.D. 1000. Additional investigations of Actun Chapat were conducted by the Western Belize Regional Cave Project during the 1999 field season, focusing primarily on the ongoing mapping and reconnaissance of the cave and excavations in the area immediate to Entrance II. The majority of artifacts found in the cave consisted of ceramic sherds, however, a number of lithic and faunal items have also been recovered. Actun Chapat has a walled burial chamber that has been looted, plus several fragments of human remains. Artifacts found here also include wooden items such as a fragment of a torch and a carved backing for a pyrite mirror. The largest and most abundant form of construction in the cave are terraced platforms, of which there are over 30. Other artificial constructions identified in Actun Chapat include platforms, staircases, and a bench. Over 200 caves have been identified in Belize, however, fewer than ten have been intensively examined by archaeologists. Actun Chapat potentially holds the largest corpus of artificial constructions in western Belize, perhaps the country. The site of Actun Chapat thus presents a formidable opportunity to conduct a case study in the examination of architecture within Maya caves.

Actun Halal

Actun Halal (Dart Cave) was found in 1999 and is being investigated further this summer. The Maya carved faces in the cave's soft flowstone. It is relatively small, with two entrances, and resembles a rock-shelter rather than a true cavern. When this cave was discovered, it was found to share similarities in overall morphology to Actun Uayazba Kab--the petroglyphs are nearly identical. Because of this, the same methodology applied to the study in Actun Uayazba Kab in 1997 are being employed in the research at Actun Halal.Large face carved in te wall of Actun Halal.

Actun Nak Beh

Actun Nak Beh, meaning Cave at the End of the Road, is a small dry cave located in the Upper Roaring Creek Valley, Cayo District, Belize. It is connected to a medium-sized ceremonial center, Cahal Uitz Na, by a 780-foot causeway or sacbe. The main cave entrance is at the base of a 80-foot cliff face and opens into a winding series of passages that joins to a second, smaller entrance. Research at Actun Nak Beh by the Western Belize Regional Cave Project began this summer and focuses on its relationship to neighboring ceremonial, settlement, and cave sites.

Actun Tunichil Muknal

The skeleton of a young female was found in Actun Tunichil Muknal. Dripwater has completely encrusted it with calcite over the years. Actun Tunichil Muknal (Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre) was named after the sacrificial chamber within the cave where the remains of a young woman were found. Fourteen burials have been found in Actun Tunichil Muknal. The cave also contains two slate stelae in front of which Maya elites cut themselves with obsidian blades to collect their blood and offer it to the gods. A stream flows out of this cave, providing the main water supply for the camp. Actun Tunichil Muknal also contains large broken pottery. Calcite from dripwater has encased many of these finds over the centuries.

Actun Uayazba Kab

Actun Uayazba Kab, (Handprint Cave) is a small cave atop a steep bluff face, part of two large interconnected cave mouths with several small caves inside. Discovered in 1996, Actun Uayazba Kab has plaster floors, human burials, petroglyphs, and pictographs. Its name comes from the handprints left on the walls. The cave also acts as a sound amplifier--people below the tropical canopy have been known to overhear conversations from the cave mouth.

Actun Yaxteel Ahau

Actun Yaxteel Ahau translates to Cave of the Ceiba Tree Lord. The Maya performed their rituals on this cave's towering cliffs and ledges. It is difficult to enter, requiring a swim through a collapsed cave passage.

Barton Creek Cave

Barton Creek is a large river cave possibly over 4.5 miles long. The cave consists of giant passages covered with numerous large speleothems over a navigable river. These features of the cave have made it a popular tourist destination. Our research at Barton Creek Cave hopes to record prehistoric Maya activity at the site and to incorporate this information in the production of a report that can be shared with other archaeologists and interested visitors. Recent investigations at Barton Creek Cave have provided a wealth of information toward our understanding of the importance of caves within Maya culture. An abundance of Maya cultural material has been discovered and is being analyzed from ten ledges located above a large subterranean river. Based on preliminary results, artifacts from these areas suggest the cave was used for a variety of purposes by the Maya including agricultural rituals, possible fertility rites, ritual bloodletting, human sacrifice, and lineage internment.